P.C. at Taco Bueno
I was paying a visit to the friendly neighborhood Taco Bueno for lunch this afternoon. An older woman was in line in front of me, and as the guy at the counter was taking her order, she cut in with:
"You know what? You sound just like that Spanish man on Suddenly Susan on TV. He's so cute, don't you think?"
The poor guy didn't even know what hit him, even less how to respond. It was obvious the woman was trying to make a compliment, but I think it missed the mark in a big way.
I never ceased to be amazed.
In a similar way, a former girlfriend's grandparents could never figure out why her sister didn't appreciate them always exclaiming, "Oh my, you've grown into such a big girl now!" The fact that it was an obvious reference to her breasts was even creepier — sort of a throwback to the scene in Sixteen Candles: "Oh look, Ed, she's gotten her boobies. And they are perky, aren't they?"
I'll be one of the first to say that political correctness is a joke. If nothing else (here's the nutshell version of my p.c. sermon), political correctness in many cases assigns value judgments where before there were none, which in my opinion is actually more offensive than the common English words for things.
For example, there's "vertically challenged" — I'm not a tall guy, about 5'6" or so. I have no regrets about my height, though, in terms of living my daily life. Sure I can't reach things on the top shelf at the bookstore, but on the other hand, I never have problems getting into anyone's car, or fishing for a dropped pen under my desk, or whatever.
The problem, though, is that the P.C. term "vertically challenged" tells my I'm supposed to feel inferior for being short — that it's less advantageous or desirable than being tall. I think that's wrong. It's wrong for the same reason that calling any particular nationality "racially challenged" or a woman "sexually challenged" would be undeniably insulting and demeaning. And for some reason, people got away with defining what was "correct" or not without even thinking of whom they were passing judgment against. At least the whole P.C. movement is starting to fade a bit in favor of good common sense.
(Oh, and by the way, you're wondering how I refer to different races of people in a non-offensive way, and yet eschew political correctness at the same time? It's easy — I don't. A white person doesn't say "look at that white guy over there", so why should they need to say "look at that [any other race] guy over there?" )
On the other hand, though, political correctness still would have been an improvement for the woman in the Taco Bueno — making fun of the way a guy spoke, ignorantly mislabeling his nationality, and wondering why he wasn't flattered by the comment. I guess there's always a compromise.
"You know what? You sound just like that Spanish man on Suddenly Susan on TV. He's so cute, don't you think?"
The poor guy didn't even know what hit him, even less how to respond. It was obvious the woman was trying to make a compliment, but I think it missed the mark in a big way.
I never ceased to be amazed.
In a similar way, a former girlfriend's grandparents could never figure out why her sister didn't appreciate them always exclaiming, "Oh my, you've grown into such a big girl now!" The fact that it was an obvious reference to her breasts was even creepier — sort of a throwback to the scene in Sixteen Candles: "Oh look, Ed, she's gotten her boobies. And they are perky, aren't they?"
I'll be one of the first to say that political correctness is a joke. If nothing else (here's the nutshell version of my p.c. sermon), political correctness in many cases assigns value judgments where before there were none, which in my opinion is actually more offensive than the common English words for things.
For example, there's "vertically challenged" — I'm not a tall guy, about 5'6" or so. I have no regrets about my height, though, in terms of living my daily life. Sure I can't reach things on the top shelf at the bookstore, but on the other hand, I never have problems getting into anyone's car, or fishing for a dropped pen under my desk, or whatever.
The problem, though, is that the P.C. term "vertically challenged" tells my I'm supposed to feel inferior for being short — that it's less advantageous or desirable than being tall. I think that's wrong. It's wrong for the same reason that calling any particular nationality "racially challenged" or a woman "sexually challenged" would be undeniably insulting and demeaning. And for some reason, people got away with defining what was "correct" or not without even thinking of whom they were passing judgment against. At least the whole P.C. movement is starting to fade a bit in favor of good common sense.
(Oh, and by the way, you're wondering how I refer to different races of people in a non-offensive way, and yet eschew political correctness at the same time? It's easy — I don't. A white person doesn't say "look at that white guy over there", so why should they need to say "look at that [any other race] guy over there?" )
On the other hand, though, political correctness still would have been an improvement for the woman in the Taco Bueno — making fun of the way a guy spoke, ignorantly mislabeling his nationality, and wondering why he wasn't flattered by the comment. I guess there's always a compromise.